When a swimming pool has a timing system installed to measure the swim times of athletes one component of such a system may be connector deck plates on the pool deck. These deck plates are typically situated close to the beginning and end of each lane and present mating connections to connectors of devices such as touchpads, pushbuttons, speakers, relay judging platforms etc. to the central timer unit. Some of these connected devices, for example touchpads, push buttons and relay judging platforms, are used to create timing signals for the timer system to measure the swim times of the athletes. Other connected devices, for example speakers, communicate to the athletes, for example the start signal tone.
In many cases these deckplates are mounted on the pool deck or on a bulkhead. A bulkhead is a moveable device, spanning the pool like a bridge and allowing for partitioning of the pool in variable segments. It can be walked on and it can carry starting blocks.
When deckplates are mounted on the pool deck or a bulkhead, their orientation is essentially horizontal. These horizontally-installed deckplates are the theme of the current invention.
Since these deckplates are adjacent to a swim lane they are typically splashed repeatedly with pool water. Since they present an essentially horizontal plane, that water tends to stay in puddles on the deckplate by virtue of its surface tension.
An essentially horizontal surface in this case is defined as a surface with small angles relative to the horizontal plane, where the water does not flow off from the surface due to surface tension.
Pool water contains aggressive chemicals such as chlorine or bromine. Chlorine, bromine and other chemicals used in swimming pools are corrosive to materials used in electrical connectors such as metals. This corrosion effect is greatly intensified by electrolysis.
When water or corrosive water sits in a puddle on the deckplate it creates a bridge between the electrical connectors of one or several mating connections. The signal voltage for the connected devices (typically 3.3 VDC or 5 VDC) creates a potential difference between said electrical contacts. That potential difference creates an electrolytic current through the slightly conductive water bridge between said electrical connectors. This electrolysis leads to faster corrosion of the electrical contacts. Therefore the traditional deck plates need high maintenance in cleaning and frequent replacement.
Frequent cleaning of the electrical contacts to maintain clean, well conducting surfaces usually makes the long term effect of corrosion worse by abrading protective layers of the electrical contacts.
An adverse electrical effect of pool water sitting on the deckplate and bridging electrical contacts of mating connections is that the added conductance of the water bridge reduces the signal to noise ratio of the timing signals.
Another adverse electrical effect of corrosion is that the serial resistance of the corroded electrical contacts in the signal path adds to the reduction of the signal to noise ratio. In many cases of strong corrosion the signal becomes unreadable by the timer and the connection is therefore useless, demanding immediate intervention of cleaning or replacement.
In summary, aggressive pool water itself and electrolysis through aggressive pool water bridging contacts together with signal voltages results in corrosion of pool deck connections and thus signal degradation, which the current invention targets to improve.